S2, Episode 5: What is going on?! (With the planets!) w/ Denise!

The Lost Girls Podcast, hosted by Neva and Maria, features Denise Hancock, a nurse educator and astrologer from New Orleans. Denise shares her experiences with astrology, holistic nursing, and her passion for teaching. Throughout the episode, they discuss a variety of topics including astrology, personal growth, and the metaphysical community in New Orleans. Denise discusses her multifaceted career and how traditional and modern astrology have shaped her practice. She highlights the significance of astrological events and how they intertwine with personal lives while also indicating the broader societal implications of current astrological changes. As the conversation unfolds, themes such as the evolution of identity, the importance of community, and the journey towards self-acceptance emerge, linking personal experiences to larger cosmic cycles.

Highlights

• 🌙 Diverse Background: Denise Hancock combines her careers in nursing and astrology, offering a unique perspective on both fields.
• 🌱 Community Spirit: The importance of community in New Orleans is highlighted, particularly in the metaphysical realm, where workshops and rituals are frequent.
• 🚀 Astrological Insights: Denise discusses the significance of astrological shifts, such as Saturn meeting Neptune, and how it heralds new movements and changes in society.
• 🏵️ Feminine Empowerment: The hosts touch on personal growth, addressing the need for reparenting and nurturing oneself, especially in the light of societal expectations.
• 🔮 Charts and Compatibility: A detailed exploration of Neva and Maria’s birth charts showcases how their astrological placements complement each other, revealing the depth of their friendship.
• ✨ Emphasis on Intentions: The conversation underscores the value of setting intentions during astrological events and integrating them into one’s daily actions.

✨ Stay Connected with Us! ✨

To check out all of Denise's amazing work, please see her WEBSITE, INSTAGRAM, and FACEBOOK.

 
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✨ Produced & Edited by Maria Ruscitti, LLC

🎶 Huge thanks to Nick J Ludwig Music for composing and mixing our theme song, "Go Do This."

🔮Neva Rowland (she/they) is a multi-faceted creator whose work blends spirituality and art. They work as a state-employed civil servant to pay the bills and feed their art supply and tarot collection addiction. 

🔮Maria (she/her) is a mother to two adorable gremlins. She has a long-term partner. Maria has been a public school educator for nearly 20 years, focusing on inner city schools and diversity education. She has been a practicing witch for most of her life, starting with Italian folklore witchcraft as a child and growing into her own traditions. She loves Moon and High Holiday Rituals (Especially Beltane), Simmer pots, Tarot Pulls, candle and herb magic and plants! 

Transcript

00:00
 hi friend hello friend and hello friends listening this is the lost girls podcast i am one of your hosts neva and i am your other host maria and today we are joined by a wonderful guest uh denise do you want to introduce yourself


00:26
 Hi there, my name is Denise Hancock. I am a nurse educator and an astrologer in New Orleans. I met Neva online, as we've all met, I think about a year ago, and we traded readings. I have a wonderful artwork from her hanging over my computer. So I have an astrology group in New Orleans where I do some teaching. I do like a monthly new moon workshop and an astrology night at a local metaphysical shop.


00:53
 And then I have clients all over the U.S. and a little bit around the world. I do a lot of my consulting work by Zoom. I'm also editor of an astrology magazine, which I may not have mentioned to you all, but it's a free magazine online from the Organization for Professional Astrology, and we produce an issue every quarter called The Evolving Astrologer. So if you like, I'll send you a link to that if you want to check it out. I'm very proud of it. Yeah, that's awesome. I had no idea. I definitely want to read that. Yeah, it's good.


01:24
 So I had forgotten that I did an artwork for you. And so then I'm like, okay, so you have an art. Marie has an art. Our guest last time, Athena, she has one of my art. So really this is just Neva's art tour. It is. It literally is hanging right over my webcam. Oh, that's awesome. Yours was one of my favorites that I did also. It's like, it looks like a butterfly. Very beautiful blues and purples. Yeah. That's awesome. I treasure it.


01:53
 Aw, yay. Enough about me, though. Enough about how awesome I am. Meanwhile, oh, mine's all janky. But I have her. Because I'm reorganizing. But Neva's artwork is over here, too. On my very messy witch shelves. You can see, that one's mine. Right there. Yep. This one. The sunflower? It almost looks like a sunflower. It looks, it's like, like a...


02:20
 oh you mean in yours yes yeah love that so for the patreons and the people on youtube you can see some images of this artwork nice well done jenny's you're a pro that's awesome yes that's a very good reason maria what is our intention for this episode


02:43
 What a lovely reminder. Thank you, Neva. Our intention, as Denise brought up, is the last quarter moon. And the sun is officially in Taurus. And so we're just, you know...


03:04
 get in some deeper meaning and live in those intentions and integrating all of our intentions into our actions, um, moving forward. So I think that that is our intention. I love that for us. Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. And on this, you know, um, Easter Sunday or 420 day or, you know, whatever holiday, um,


03:31
 It is to you. Here in New Orleans, we have a big gay parade today. Oh, that's better. Drag queens through the French Quarter in these like...


03:39
 magnificent easter bonnets that are entire artworks of their own yeah okay that's so cool yeah i know i'm like that's so much better than anything we're doing um yeah we do a ostara easter egg hunt with the kids and uh they like that because you know they like running around the yard um i mean who doesn't love easter egg yeah they're so fun yeah so we do that and that's about it


04:09
 So we do a big celebration for belting. That's our big... So next weekend, we'll do a big bonfire celebration with a bunch of our friends and cook some good stuff. Living in New Orleans, one of the wonderful things about being here is really any excuse to have a party or a festival. Or a gay parade. Or a gay parade, right. We throw a parade, we throw a party, we throw a festival for everything. And so particularly in the spring and the fall...


04:38
 There's multiple things every weekend, which is really nice. And there's a nice metaphysical community here, too. The shop where I do my monthly astrology night has a lot of events, probably at least five nights of the week, including a number of group rituals and celebrations. And so I really love that community of people. That's awesome. Yeah, I know. That's so special. And I feel like really hard to find. Yeah.


05:03
 Oh, and let me throw out the name since everyone's visiting New Orleans. Yeah, please. It's called Mystic Resource Center and it's in Metairie, Louisiana. So it's like about 10 minutes outside of the French Quarter. And they do have a second shop that's just right outside the French Quarter called Cottage Magic that's a little more on the tourist track. But Mystic is kind of where the community headquarters is. And they often have like ritual fires and blessings and ceremonies there on site. So if you ever come to New Orleans and visit, be sure and...


05:33
 And go by and check it out. Oh, my God. I would love to come to Louisiana. That's amazing. Yeah, New Orleans is definitely on the short list. Well, and in August every year, so this might interest you, there's actually a festival called Hex Fest. Oh! Where there's a lot of occult speakers. It's put on by another store in town. It's very collaborative, cooperative. And so that's a big deal in New Orleans every, like, the first, usually the first, like, week or so of August. Okay.


06:02
 That sounds amazing. I know. Here's me being like, hmm, how long will it take to drive from Connecticut to Louisiana? Hmm. I'd guess a couple hard days drive. Yeah, a couple shitty days, but that's fine. Yeah. Better than flying. I don't like flying. Yeah.


06:24
 so denise is here to talk astrology yes oh my gosh which is so exciting so do you wanna so you gave us a rundown of like all the cool stuff that you do yes um how did you originally like get into doing all like you said you're a nurse trainer practitioner so so you have a nursing degree like and did that kind of lead you into your practice like how did you get started in that


06:54
 So I'm one of those kids who was always interested in astrology. And I grew up in a family that was not right where astrology was considered, you know, the devil. Yeah, I can. I can remember going to the grocery store as a kid with my mom and they'd have these little scrolls of like forecast for your sign. And then, you know, we did a lot of going to garage sales. And so sometimes I would find astrology books at garage sales.


07:19
 And I will say one thing about my parents is they never policed my reading, right? So I read all sorts of inappropriate material, but including astrology. Love that. And so I kind of, you know, early in life, I got married really young. I grew up in Oklahoma. That was like the thing to do. I had a child just before I was 20 and went to school. And so it kind of fell by the wayside for a few years. But around the time of Hurricane Katrina, I became a nurse. That's when I got my nursing degree.


07:47
 And around that same time, I got really interested in, I had a neighbor who was holding like energy healing workshops. Um, she was a Reiki practitioner, but she was teaching more broadly about the energy field. And along with that, I started exploring some nursing theories that talk about spiritual care and that we're more than our physical bodies and energetic fields. And so I sort of picked it back up as I was in nursing school.


08:13
 Hurricane Katrina happened in New Orleans in the middle of my nursing school program. And so I wound up relocating back to Oklahoma for a while. Ended up going to grad school in Oklahoma. And it turned out that one of my professors there was a Native American who had her own nursing practice and did a lot of like holistic and shamanic healing and treatment. And so I also found an astrology mentor. So moved back to New Orleans.


08:39
 Got my PhD. I've been a nursing school teacher. I've been a manager in a hospital. But I've always been a member of something called the American Holistic Nurses Association. Oh, cool. And really about five years ago, just before the pandemic began, I started hearing about traditional astrology, which really wasn't available when I was young. Like all astrology was pretty much modern psychological thing that your birth chart is all about you and your psyche and, you know, how you evolve.


09:08
 And so I wound up spending a year studying with a teacher named Sam Reynolds and really diving into these much older astrological predictions or traditions that are actually more predictive in nature and much more about your fortune in life and your fate in life. And a more stoic view about understanding your place in the world helps you to, you know, become acceptance with it in, you know, an alignment with the divine plan.


09:36
 Anyway, so that fascinated me. So my practice today is much more traditional in nature based on older, like, Hellenistic and Islamicate methods. But I still came from that perspective of modern psychology. So if somebody wants to talk to me about, like, well, what's my purpose, that's fine. But I'm also really good with tell me when to put the job application in, right? Yeah. Like, what's the day that I should leave on a trip? Or when should I have surgery? Or, you know, those more, like...


10:04
 you know, practical here and now material kinds of concerns. I'm sorry, that was a long-winded answer. No. I feel like it was a long story where it's like it would pull at me and I would be there and then I got distracted by other things and it would pull at me and I would be there. And I'm sure this is true with you too, right? It's like. Oh, yeah. As women, we go through these different stages in our life. And, you know, when you have really young kids or you're deep in an educational program, you know, you just can't.


10:31
 You can't do everything at once. No, no, you cannot. And I think mine is very similar to yours where I was always very interested in it, even as a child and very frowned upon in my household. And my parents did police what I read. So I would sneakily go to the library or ask my mom to go to the bookstore and then like put a book in a book. Right.


11:00
 Yeah. Like read the astrology books, you know, before someone caught me and inevitably told me I was going to burn in hell. So even today, my parents never actually ask about my astrology business. You know, they'll kind of like indirectly be like, oh, well, what are you doing this weekend or.


11:18
 yeah but they never they never ask any questions it's like it's sort of like don't ask don't tell yeah yeah it's in the closet it's not in the closet i talk about it i'm public about it but they don't you know yeah particularly acknowledge it as a reality yeah i 100 understand i get that yeah yeah that's good i feel like that's a hard relate mostly my mom asked me how my


11:41
 music thesis is going and if i'd finished it yet like not yet mom but you could ask me about any of my wonderful art projects but no yeah why you know it's hard because like when wonderful things happen and you really want to share them and like they just don't understand it at all right yeah no um actually next next uh friday


12:06
 I'm speaking for the first time at a global astrology conference. You know, it's a really big deal to me. Yeah, that's huge. You know, it doesn't... Nothing. Right. Well, we're excited for you. Thank you. We're proud of you. We're proud of you, Denise. Thank you. And you know what? It really has been part of, I think, and maybe you'll understand this too, part of the journey that I've had to go through as a person who has a moon in Capricorn moon and not really feeling...


12:33
 nurtured for being myself is this whole reparenting journey that i've had to do sort of in my later you know my mid my mid-adult years and i think part of understanding like how to celebrate your own wins and how to honor your successes yourself has been a really important part of that reparenting that we sometimes have to do as adults


12:53
 Yeah, it's super important. I feel like right around the time of my Saturn return, that really slapped me around for a while. And that's probably right around the time I went no contact with my biological family. But now I feel like I have so...


13:13
 much more since then like my partner's family is great and my mother-in-law bless her heart even if she doesn't understand what the hell i'm doing she's excited so i can be like i'm doing this thing i should be like okay well can you explain and i'll explain it should be like is that like a


13:33
 big thing? Is that not a big thing? And I'll be like, it's a pretty big deal. She'll be like, well, that's awesome. I'm super proud. Oh, that's fantastic. When I was creating my Oracle deck, my mother-in-law, she was like, can you explain what this is? And so I did, and she's like...


13:50
 okay cool okay cool yeah it's like it's very just like i'm just excited to be here energy and it's really wonderful so or just to celebrate you or to be yeah i'll be interested enough to ask the questions like i want to know what you're doing yeah that is great


14:07
 yeah and she's a Sagittarius so it's like no surprise yeah she wants to know about everything she wants to know about everything yeah yeah it's great and then she's on to the next thing exactly yeah and then what are the kids doing and what is happening and you know she's awesome in that way but I think it's yeah healing those parental wounds comes at what feels like a steep price but I think we end up so much better for it in the long run


14:38
 Well, I don't think we have a choice, really. No. It's either heal them or, you know, kind of... Right. Kind of stay, you know, stay wounded, stay sad or, you know, whatever. Or throw up your trauma on everyone around you, which is not healthy. You mentioned at the start of the season, right, that you said, hey, we're firmly in Taurus season? Yeah. Well, it's interesting because, you know...


15:06
 i asked you guys before the before the podcast if i could take a look at your birth charts oh yes talk about them a little bit please share any reflections you have i'm so into this do you mind if i share the screen for the folks who watch no no go ahead oh you'll have to you'll have to turn it on so so taurus actually was i think an important part of what brings the two of you together


15:30
 I don't know exactly, you know, what your own history is. The fact that we both made the same thing. We both did that. So is it okay if I say the birth dates and time on the end? Oh, yeah, that's fine. Send me presents. Yeah, exactly. On the small wheel of the screen, I have Neva's birth chart. And Neva was born June 3rd of 1987 in Winchester, Kansas, 1115 a.m.


15:59
 And then the outer wheel, I have your two charts together, is Maria's. And Maria was born May 6th of 1984, 6.50 p.m. in New Haven, Connecticut. And when I first looked at your two charts...


16:11
 like separately before I put them together, like I didn't see a whole lot of like immediate connections, which made me ask the question to you guys, well, how did you meet? Because, you know, it turned on with like these sort of friends of friends on internet, you know, sites. How the hell are you two friends? But what you do have in common is kind of you have the same chart angles.


16:33
 Right? Oh, yeah, we do. Neva's rising sign or ascendant is Leo, and that is your midheaven, Maria. But then what I saw what was really cool is on Neva's midheaven, she has a midheaven that's 12 degrees, 12 and a half degrees of Taurus and Venus in Taurus. And you, Maria, also have Venus in Taurus. Yeah. And your sun, which is kind of like your purpose, your vitality, your battery, is like right at what we call the midpoint.


17:02
 between Neva's Venus and Midheaven. Oh, cool. It's like, in some ways, Maria helps Neva to get public attention, right? So it was that initial idea, like this passion of Maria's that then brought Neva into the picture to help, you know, project her image. I just thought that was so cool.


17:30
 cool and so applicable when when when neva was doing her kickstarter like i straight up


17:47
 bullied people into backing into backing their kickstarter i was like the loudest and biggest proponent of like i don't want to say veiled threats so much as just flat out but like show you something but like in a kind of makes immediately


18:08
 but in like a kind way in a very kind way but just Neva tends to be a little bit more not outwardly expressive like she's got all this creative energy but her Mars which is like your will and her Mercury which is like the voice they're in the 12th house of the chart right so it's like


18:26
 you kind of got to be in her inner circle or you have to, you know, it's like, it's much more personal. Not you. No. You've got this Mars and Scorpio in your first house. Yeah. It's in her foundation. It's in her private place. It's in her like basis. Right. And so you're advocating her and you're fighting for her. And your Mercury is up here yelling from the top of the heavens. Pay attention to this woman. Give her money. Yeah.


18:54
 Yeah. Yeah. So it was really interesting because like when you have a Mercury in Aries, Maria, and you have a Mercury in Cancer, Neva, I don't necessarily think of those as complementary styles in terms of how you think. It's almost like there can be some clashes or some conflicts between the two of you. You have to adjust to each other. But it seems clear that Maria is like playing this much more active role and then sort of like bringing you into it.


19:24
 And I think your Venus's together, your Venus's and Taurus, both in Taurus is probably the glue. Yeah. Like you have some similarities, even though you have a lot of differences. Yeah. I, yeah, I'm always a big fan of my, my Venus in Taurus. Um, I think it provides a lot of like, I don't want like stability, but how, how I love people is pretty stable and intense. Yeah.


19:51
 I have Venus in Scorpio, also stable and intense, but a little bit like more problematic. But yeah, sometimes people would say like, if you could have any astrological placement in the world, like what would you want? Yeah. And I think I would like to have either the moon or Venus in Taurus. Like that would be one of my two, like if I could have an astrological placement that I could pick myself. That's awesome.


20:16
 yeah yeah and just this is kind of funny because obviously i'm always connected to your charts too right like if we're having this conversation right there's links between us so um my most private part of my chart my ic is right here on neva's midheaven and near your son oh wow and um your scorpio uh maria or your your your mars maria is right on my neptune um


20:44
 So my midheaven is right down here, right? And my Neptune's right down here. And so it's, again, it's like you're helping bring my spirituality, my, you know, you're sort of doing that for me as well, intentionally or not intentionally. And your Saturn is right on the top of my midheaven. So, yeah, it's interesting how there's always links and ties between us.


21:10
 Yeah. And, of course, you both were born with Pluto and Scorpio, right? Yeah. You're just part of that generation. Right. You were both born with, you know, Uranus in Sagittarius and Neptune in Cancer. So those things, you know, when you start seeing the changes is once we get into Saturn and into Jupiter and then the faster moving outer planet. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.


21:33
 Do you have any reflections there, Neva? I think it's interesting. We both have Chiron and Gemini. Oh, my God. That's right. And we have a podcast. We have a whole episode about it. Yeah. And, you know, again, that's a little bit generational because Chiron takes 51 years to go around the Zodiac. And so it's in Gemini for several years. But what I would also see there and point out is that Maria's North Node is


22:00
 is very close to your son, Neva. And so the North Node is often seen as like a place of increase, a place of hunger, a place of growth. Evolutionary astrologers would say it's like a karmic pathway almost, like where you're going in life. And so again, there's this solar connection, right? Like of Maria's North Node being hungry for like your purpose and what you have to offer and helping expand it.


22:27
 But yeah, it's your 11th house where Chiron is and then it would be the It's the 8th house for Maria where Chiron is mm-hmm and 8th house is oftentimes like shared resources resources that you know You have jointly right? Whereas the 11th house is more like your audience. So


22:53
 So it's, like, I would expect for Maria to bring more of the resources and Neva to help expand the audience. Wow. That's dead on. That is dead on. Yeah. It's funny because, like, I manage a lot of, like, the background parts of our podcast. So, like, the editing and the technical stuff and the hosting and whatever. And Neva's like, I found 15 more cool people we could talk to. And I was like, oh, my God. Amazing. Networking. Yeah. Networking.


23:21
 That's really one of your gifts, Neva, is having that sun in Gemini, is like the ability to sort of find people and bring people together, particularly people from like diverse backgrounds. I would imagine that you know lots of people from lots of different places and walks of life with many different interests.


23:36
 I do. Or I'll text you at 5am and be like, Hey, I have an idea for the pod. Yup. It's like, it's either 5am or like 11 o'clock at night. There's no in between. Yeah. And it's like, yeah. And it's like, Hey, guess what? I thought of this cool thing. It's like, okay. Yeah. I mean, the other thing relevant to podcasting here is, um, is Maria, your Jupiter or your, your Mercury is pretty close to her Jupiter. There's a Mercury Jupiter conjunction.


24:06
 So again, like broadcasting, reaching out, making things bigger, you know, that like amplifying each other's ideas and particularly ideas. I often think of Jupiter as not only like optimistic, but also like one's faith, one's belief system, one's like spiritual values. Because Jupiter is kind of like how you see the world, your philosophy for the world.


24:30
 And so I think that together is a really great formula for like manifesting things into reality, you know, bringing both the faith and then the organization and the ideas together so that, you know, you can actually be a little more powerful together than you could be, you know, on your own.


24:46
 Oh, I love that. So we're basically just like amazing. We are. We're just amazing together. I mean, obviously, right? Well, it's so funny because as an astrologer, one of the top questions, you know, you get from people is like, okay, well, what sign is most compatible for me, right? Like everybody wants to know about sign compatibility. Right.


25:06
 And, you know, if you were to ask me this question, you'd be like, okay, well, Neva has a son in Gemini and Maria has a son in Taurus, and those are not compatible. No. They're totally different, right? Taurus wants, like, stability and comfort and ease, and Gemini wants variety and to move fast and do it quickly. But then you look at all these other points of the chart, and there is, you know, cooperation and collaboration and where one person brings something to the table that brings out the strength of another person.


25:35
 And to me, that's really the hallmark of what makes a relationship. It's not that, you know, you're identical in, you know, your desires or your styles, right? That would be boring. Yeah. Yeah. We're complementary colors. Yeah. But you also have your own lives, you know? Yeah. Aw. And I think that's what makes really any relationship successful in the long run. That's awesome. I just... Romantic, professional friendship, you know, whatever. Oh, man. I just love how, like...


26:05
 so much of this chart, like at the bottom, is in Scorpio. Yeah. Well, and that's mostly yours, right? Yeah. You both have Pluto in Scorpio. Neva has the Lot of Fortune, actually conjunct Pluto in Scorpio, which is probably like a whole consultation in itself. That's awesome. Right. And then Maria has Rising Sign in Scorpio, Saturn in Scorpio, Mars in Scorpio. That's some intense


26:35
 Like when you have a vision, you can get things done and you quit in a hurry. No, my husband calls me a bulldog. When I latch on to something, good luck trying to get me to let go of it. Yeah, I think of something even more than a bulldog, like something that's more like a... Alligator? Alligator.


26:59
 Drag it to the bottom of the lake and drown it till it's mine. In ancient astrology, Saturn was also like one of the images of Saturn was also like the crocodile, like the crocodile. And so I think that's very Saturn in Scorpio, right? It's like persistent, tenacious. It's ancestral. It's, you know,


27:24
 not going to let go, right? Yeah. Crocodiles can take down anything. Fuck yeah. Can I... No, can I ask you to talk about the point of fortune briefly, or not briefly, you know, however long you want. Because... Yeah, I'm interested. Okay, because I'm doing this art workshop series at the gallery that I'm a member of where, like...


27:52
 So, I had one for Taurus season, like, last weekend. And so, like, I look at their birth chart and, you know, what in your birth chart, like, where is Taurus and what house is it and what luminaries do you have? And, like, the point of fortune isn't something that I usually pay a lot of attention to, but then, like...


28:11
 I can't remember if it was the Taurus or the Aries one, but, like, two of the people had it, and I was like, okay, well, I'm going to Google this really quick so we can figure out what this is and what it means. Because then they set an intention for Aries season or for Taurus season or Gemini season, and then they...


28:29
 put that energy into an artwork that they create. And so I'm just wondering if you could like talk about that point and what it is and what it means so that, you know, I can be a little bit more educated also. Yeah. I'm actually going to talk about two parts or lots to kind of give you some, some bigger perspective. Yeah. And I'm highlighting them for each of you real quick. And I just added one of them. Oh, cool. So, so,


28:57
 Where the notion of parts or lots came from is it goes back to ancient astrology like 3,000 years ago. And essentially, the lot of fortune, which is the circle with the cross in it, and the other one, the lot of spirit, which is a circle with the line through it, those are both calculations that take your sun and moon and their position from your ascendant, okay?


29:24
 So they're not real bodies, right? They're a mathematical calculation. And they're dependent upon your rising sign, your ascendant, and your sun and your moon. And they're distanced from each other, projected from the ascendant. Oh, yeah. So that's what they are. So when you Google them, you kind of see a lot of stuff about, well, a lot of fortune is where you're lucky in life. Okay. Not exactly. Okay.


29:52
 Okay, so what the lot of fortune is, it's an assessment of your overall state of fortune, what you were born with, which may be lucky or unlucky, and really is usually a whole bunch of combinations of those things, right? It's like the context in which you were born and what you inherited.


30:12
 Other than trauma? Well, right. So I'm just going to start with your lot of fortune, Neva. So you have a lot of fortune that is in the fourth house in the sign of Scorpio. So, you know, in ancient astrology, Pluto, we didn't know Pluto existed yet. So I'm just going to leave it to the side for now. But we know it's in your fourth house. So this has something to do with like your foundations in life, your home, your ancestry, and potentially like topics like real estate.


30:41
 So then I take a look at the ruling planet, which I would say is Mars, because again, I'm talking pre-Pluto. And it's ruled by Mars in Cancer with Mercury in Cancer in that 12th house. So that sort of tells me a lot of things. One of them might be that you are sensitive, that you're a highly sensitive person. And that might come out with either emotional or physical health concerns.


31:10
 that reappear, and that's kind of like part of your life story that you were born with, right? Like that was, you were born with a sensitive system, right? And more sensitive than other people's, right? You know, because it's all a spectrum. And so there's some timing mechanisms that you can follow throughout your life that are symbolic for like, how does this lot of fortune get activated and when, and what happens? Is it a peak time? Is it a lower time?


31:36
 Is it being impacted in a good way? Is it being impacted? And so for people with like a chronic health condition, following the lot of fortune and the specific time period is called zodiacal releasing. It can be really helpful for helping you know when you might have flares of things. Oh, like my sinuses? Yeah, it's related to the body. The lot of fortune has a lot to do with your physical body. That's crazy. And like resources, you know, like resources in the family.


32:06
 So the lot of spirit is actually one that I follow myself, like more on a day-to-day basis. And the lot of spirit is also calculated. It's also based on the ascendant and the sun and the moon. But it's a little bit more like the sun. It's more like what do I want to accomplish in life? Like what are my aspirations? What am I trying to achieve?


32:28
 And I'm a person who's very like work and business and achievement focused. You know, it's like I got a lot of Virgo. I got a lot of Scorpio. I got a lot of Capricorn. Like I like to get things done. Hell yeah. And so the lot of spirit says more about when you can advance your agenda and how. And so your lot of spirit, Neva, is in Gemini in the 11th house, you know, next to the sun. And it's ruled by Mercury, who is also in the 12th house.


32:56
 But it probably indicates that you're much more able to, like through other people, through your networks, you know, through your audiences, through aspirational stuff, even though you're working behind the scenes, that through your partnerships with other people, your collaborations with other people, that you're able to accomplish things, right? Yeah, I can see that. And again, you can follow the timing on that and be like, okay, well, this is the time when I'm going to be really busy and the things I do are really important and active and are going to help advance me in the long run.


33:25
 And this is a time period where I'm, like, changing directions, you know? And so then for you, Maria, your lot of fortune or your lot of spirit is in your 10th house near your midheaven in Leo. And so, like, doing things that are big and public, taking leadership roles, stepping into the spotlight, those would be things that your lot of fortune would indicate you would be set up to do. Cool. And persisting over time because it's ruled by a sun that's in Taurus, right? Yeah. Steady growth.


33:55
 Right. Love that. Yeah. I'm a big fan. I hope that helps. They're both really great for a little bit about explaining your natural gifts and proclivities. But to me, they're much more valuable as timing and predictive tools. Yeah. I'm trying to look at the chart and feel like where my lot of fortune is. Is it in Pisces? It's here. Oh, I thought that was my lot of spirit.


34:21
 Oh, I'm sorry, yes. I'm sorry, you're right, it is. Here, it's in Capricorn. Oh, in Capricorn, okay. Yeah. Oh, that, yeah, I guess that's right. Next to Jupiter, right? So it's ruled by Saturn and Scorpio, that crocodile. That crocodile, yeah. Right on. There's a lot about your chart that's very, like, I'm gonna persist. You're very, like...


34:43
 defiant not necessarily just that like once you set your mind to something what like whether you're like if it's a friend and they're your friend and they've proven themselves to you you are loyal like you're gonna like persist right on the other hand once you cut ties with somebody oh you're dead to me right right um so it's more like a steadiness right yeah


35:08
 Whatever direction it goes. But in terms of like, you know, business stuff, podcasting, it can be brilliant, right? Because while a lot of people want to think they're going to get an audience and build it in nine months and everything's going to be gangbusters, the reality is success takes time. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, I don't want to speak for Neva, but we worry, or don't worry at all, about...


35:35
 how many people are listening or downloading or whether we're going to be famous it's more we genuinely enjoy doing this and talking to each other and it's like scheduled friendship catch-up time and we get to integrate all of the things that we like and then talk to people who we super respect um


35:56
 And I think that we get so much enjoyment out of it that it's like, cool, if in a year or two years or five years, thousands of people listen to it and like it, cool. But until then, this is just something that we do for ourselves. And if other people want to come along for the ride at some point, that's great too. You're just speaking from your Taurus Venus, right? This is enjoyment. This is companionship. This is connection. This is pleasure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.


36:26
 And if other people want to participate, great. Great, cool. It's still good for us. Yeah. And that's a big, you know, being an artist, that's a big thing that I've just had to learn myself is people are going to like it or they're not going to like it. And that doesn't mean I'm less. You know, it just means that they're not into it. And that's okay. Oh, they're going to like it.


36:56
 Okay, so now I'm looking at your Jupiters, right? So, yeah, Maria has a Jupiter in Capricorn who's more like, I know the right way.


37:06
 this is how you do it right this is it i'm the authority here oh god yeah you could just call that like big dick energy and just throwing it around it's not your fault you're right all the time yeah i know this is what i'm saying i have a shirt somewhere one that's not appropriate for me to wear to work obviously but that i wear often on the weekends it's like it's not my fault that i have perfect opinions and great tits


37:36
 I had, speaking of t-shirts, I just think this is funny. So, you know, I really didn't understand my birth chart when I was like eighth grade, right? Because at that time you had to literally go look on tables and stuff. But I had this t-shirt when I was in the eighth grade.


37:52
 that said, I know I'm efficient. Tell me I'm beautiful. And now that I look at my chart and I've got like three planets in Virgo. Oh, hell yeah. Of course that was my shirt, right? Of course it was. And it's Venus and Scorpio who's like, ah, you know, where am I? Give me that intense pleasure. Yeah. I know. I wish I still had that t-shirt because it was like, okay, I need to remake that shirt. That really was the perfect shirt. That's awesome. And yours is, you know...


38:20
 And I'm saying, yeah, your moon is in Cancer. That is classically great, Tit. Thank you. Yes. This is what I'm saying. Yeah. I like to cry. If you read these ancient textbooks, it talks about how the moon and the rising sign can sort of like describe someone's appearance.


38:42
 Oh, like Cancer Rising Sign or Cancer Moon is sort of like round and, you know. Oh, yeah. And it's like a round face and a round chest and a round belly. And it's like, you know. Oh, I'm round, baby. Kind of like fertility goddess kind of, you know, those old fertility goddess statues, right? Yeah. I make jokes all the time. I'm like, oh, I would have killed it in the Renaissance. Neva's moon in Virgo, at the very first degree of Virgo, is more of a sensitive moon.


39:10
 Um, that like is a little, uh, a little, sometimes a little anxious, like always wants everything to be perfect and can be a little hypercritical and a little bit more prone to like digestive issues. And so it tends to be health conscious and like thinner and, um, a little more, um, oh, like a tendency towards neurosis, you know?


39:34
 That's fair. Yeah. And there's more to your chart than that, right? But your moon would indicate that you can get stressed out and that when you get stressed out, you've got a couple things in your chart that, like, when you get stressed out, it impacts your body. Like I get sinus infections. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of times moon and Virgo is literally digestive issues. People that have, you know, things like irritable bowel or ulcers or easily upset stomachs, it's like...


39:59
 Oh, that's so interesting. Yeah. I mean, if I talk to people like at a festival or something, I want to say seven out of eight people with Virgo moons all report like similar health things. Wow. My stomach, it's just like, like, oh, my stomach hurts. And I just like go about my day because it's like, it just fucking happens. It's normal.


40:21
 And you think it's normal, but it's not. It's not. Yeah. It's not. Like, you know, I have a moon in Capricorn. My stomach almost never hurts. Like my stomach hurts. It's like a steel trap. Yeah. Yeah. That's so cool. It's just not one of the things that plague me. Right. Yeah.


40:38
 huh so um denise what are some of these like you said like ancient texts um like if someone was interested in that other than like obviously no scheduling consultations with you which they absolutely should do um what are some books or resources that you have found helpful learning about maybe the less modern aspects of astrology


41:04
 I'm actually going to answer that by saying that you probably don't want to read the traditional text yourself, even though they've been translated. The writing is very, it's like, you know, if you've ever tried to read Ptolemy. Oh, yeah. I got to imagine it's horribly dense. Right. And so for some reason, Zoom is not responding to me right now. Oh, okay. I was trying to stop sharing my screen. What I would recommend is I'm going to start with something that's a little on the lighter side.


41:34
 There's a book from Channing Nicholas called You Were Born for This. And Channing also has an app, and you can get a free version of her app, or you can get a premium version that's got more information. When people tell me that the first time that they want to start learning about their birth charts, that's who I recommend them to. You Were Born for This. Channing is a wonderful...


41:57
 gay astrologer who has a business with her wife and they hire astrologers to do all the work. They pay all their staff a living wage and it's very based on traditional technique, but it's also very contemporary and readable. So her book I love, but it really focuses on your rising sign and your sun and your moon, like the whole, the whole book. Right. But that's such a great starting point because those impact so much of our lives. So I would start there.


42:24
 And then if you really want to be a more, I guess, like serious student, like you wanted to become an astrologer yourself, a teacher named Demetra George has produced two books, and they're called Ancient Astrology, Volumes 1 and Volumes 2. And it's almost like a, I would say like a college textbook, but there's worksheets.


42:53
 Oh, I love worksheets. Cool.


43:01
 Cool. I'm writing all this down. I can put it in the show notes, too. Yeah, I'm really worried about if it's the internet connection, because Zoom is just frozen for me, so I'm hoping that... Oh, I... Yeah, I was able to stop your sharing, so... Okay. Because for me, it still looks like it's... Okay. We're back to the normal view on my side. Okay. Neva, what's it look like for you? I can see all three of us. The screen stopped sharing. Okay. Yeah.


43:30
 So, yeah, Demetra George's book would be, you know, kind of like the second step for like when you really want to learn. And it's going to take you deep. Right. But it's also done in a very digestible way. Yeah. There's also a podcast called The Astrology Podcast where a guy named Chris Brennan has done his own like Hellenistic course.


43:49
 Oh, cool. His course doesn't work for me. You kind of go through and watch lots and lots of videos, like hundreds of hours of videos. And I tend to get really bored and wander off. Yeah. But a lot of people have gone through that course and really like it. It's just not my style of learning, right? I'd rather have a book and a chapter with a workbook. Because I need to do something with it, right? But there's a lot of great background information on those old astrology podcast episodes where you can learn about


44:17
 the houses and the planets and, you know, certain concepts. So, um, in kind of more bite-sized pieces. That's awesome. Those are great resources. Thank you so much. And I will link those below. Yeah. If you need links to anything, let me know. Um,


44:36
 One of the things I intend to do, but I haven't done it yet is actually add a page on my website, like for, you know, resources to learn more because I get asked those questions a lot. Oh my God. Can I just shout out your website? It is so well designed, like from a person who.


44:52
 does this i loved it i was like oh information is easy the color scheme is gorgeous i feel like i got such a good sense of who you are and what you do just like immediately off your which as we all know is not always the case um and man are there some real gnarly websites out there


45:15
 You were talking about my wonderful website. I was talking about your wonderful website. AstrologyWithDenise.com. Yes, which is like, you know, there are so many crazy named websites out there, air designed, and I just really liked yours. I designed it myself using a very simple template, but yeah, so I'm kind of proud of it.


45:37
 I'm looking to move it to, like, I'm currently just using a free MailChimp template. And I'm looking to move it to maybe Squarespace or something where I can have a blog component and start putting articles. So that's one of my goals for this year. Nice. I use Squarespace. I like it a lot. Yeah. I've never built another website and I've never moved one. And so, like, the whole process of change kind of scares me. But I think it's time, you know, and hopefully more people will find it.


46:06
 I actually get a lot of business from Google, but I think more people will find it if there's content posted, if there's articles. Yeah. The more updated it gets. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we had talked about the two of your charts and some of the connections, and we talked about the part of fortune and the part of spirit connection.


46:27
 Do you want to go into kind of this year and what's going on? I know that's probably the biggest question I've gotten from friends in the last couple weeks is like, what the heck is going on? Yes. What the heck is going on? Seriously, what is going on? Maybe that's the title of this episode. We're going to look for deeper meaning, right? Yes. In what's going on. Yes. Awesome. So...


46:54
 When you sort of zoom way out and you look at the year 2025 in the bigger perspective, like centuries-long perspective, all astrologers, kind of worth their weight, knew that this year was going to be a year that was big changes. That it's like we're at a part of a cycle where lots of things are changing at once in big and meaningful ways, right? And so...


47:21
 Like the three big themes that I gave all my clients for this year, and which is really going to lead us into 2026 too, are that the pace of change that we already thought was going fast is going faster. Like things are accelerating. The second is that the structures and the systems that like our lives were built around and that we thought we could count on are dissolving, right? Right.


47:45
 We could say they're being knocked down. Yeah. And that is true. Very aware. They're collapsing. They're disappearing. They're dissolving. To me, it's helpful to know that this is a big picture thing that's going on in the cycles reflected by the planets. And so however it happened could have happened in different ways. It was always intended to happen. This was a time period when...


48:08
 We're kind of melting a little bit as a society and as, you know, as people. And of course, you know, where you live, what your context is, it can be different for different people. Right. The other thing that is really exciting and that I don't think we're really seeing yet is that from this dissolving, we'll have new forms and movements emerging. And right now it's like we're in this bubble.


48:33
 not even really brainstorming period. I think we've been overwhelmed by the dissolution. But from that will emerge new art forms, new stuff. Denise, come back. All right, new movements.


48:47
 I'm going to just keep talking even if we can't get the Zoom. Is that okay? Yeah, you cut out for a little bit. Okay, I kept talking even without the Zoom. Just start from new forms and movements. New forms and movements will be emerging that we can't even see yet. And everything from art forms and styles to architecture to systems.


49:10
 So those are coming, right? Those are bubbling up. But we have yet to sort of hear all the ideas, see all the ideas, and decide which ones we're going to fall behind. You know, which new leaders really get us excited. So one of the reasons for that is big picture. The planet Saturn is coming to meet with the planet Neptune. Right. And they're not exactly going to meet this year, but they're going to spend the whole summer really, really close.


49:40
 And then they will meet in February of next year. And, you know, that happens about every 35 years. The last time it happened was like when the Berlin Wall fell and Tiananmen Square happened. And, you know, it was in the late 80s, etc. But the other thing that's happening this year, which is really extraordinary, is that nearly all of the outer planets are changing signs. You know, Pluto already did it. Pluto changed signs for good.


50:06
 But Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter are all changing signs. And that hardly ever happens in this short of a period of time because they're all really slow moving. So Neptune moved into Aries, right? Giant overhaul. It's like we're all changing. Everything's changing. Neptune moved into Aries last month on the 30th. Saturn moves into Aries on May 24th.


50:31
 Jupiter goes into Cancer on June 9th, and Uranus goes into Gemini on July 7th. Wow. So that's a lot of fast changes. Yeah. Now, some of these planets... And signs with changes. Yes. We're going all to, like, fire and air. Yeah. Where we have been more Earth and water, we're going to fire and air, which are faster, right? Yeah. Water moves fast. Fire moves fast, right? Yeah. So in the fall...


51:00
 Saturn and Uranus and Neptune are going to back out a little bit and go back to where they were in Taurus and Pisces, but only for a few months. And then they're coming back into these air and fire signs for good for, for many years for like, you know, Saturn for two years, Neptune for 10 years, you know, Pluto for 20. So, um, we just had eclipses, which are always when things get churned up, right?


51:24
 And we also had retrogrades. We had Mars going retrograde. We had Venus retrograde. We had Mercury retrograde. So in the next month, in the month of May, like the planets finally get out of the places where they were retrograde. So April 26th, Mercury finally goes into new territory. Mars finally goes into new territory on May 2nd and Venus on May 16th.


51:49
 So it's like they're finally, it's like we're finishing up or we're seeing the resolution in all these things that kind of started happening last fall and early this year.


51:58
 And it's like everything's winding up and moving into new places as we get into June and July. Yeah. It feels like a shake-up domino effect, you know, where it's like, okay, we're going to shake it all up. Everyone's going to move. You know, this person's going to move here. This person's going to move here. This person's going to move here. And then, you know, everyone's kind of discombobulated living out of boxes for a while. Yes.


52:20
 Well, and some of my clients are doing that literally, right? And, you know, people like, I'm thinking of one particular person I know who like they had an injury in the fall, like in November, a very kind of martial injury where they fell and broke something. And so really now what they're doing is they're finishing their rehab, right? Like they've had a surgery and they've done through. So it's like whatever this turmoil, this shakeup is like moving into a new place, you know, will it ever be the same? No, it's different, but it's, it's, we're moving on.


52:48
 So we have a new moon coming on Sunday, next Sunday, in Taurus. And usually I love a Taurus new moon. We're like in the height of spring. We get flowers. But it's like a Taurus moon wants comfort and stability. And what's happening between the sun and Mars and Pluto indicates no. There's more tensions. There's more conflict. So I kind of feel like this new moon, like there's a lot of, it's kind of like a new moon that's like getting the tremors or the aftershocks.


53:17
 So it's a little bit of anxiety provoking perhaps about like the financial markets and our material resources and our jobs. And so I'm really encouraging people for the Taurus new moon to kind of focus more on personal things. Like as you set intentions or want to manifest things, I think challenging any fears or any scarcity based thinking that one has. Oh, I love that. Yeah.


53:44
 Finding ways to find pleasure and beauty and joy and comfort every day, no matter what. Right. And that depends on what you like to do. But for Venus and Taurus people, I'm sure you guys have a lot of ideas. Take naps, hang art. Yeah. For me, because we're Tauruses in my chart, it's like the garden. I like nature and garden. Oh, I love that. Yeah. So every day I've been going outside and spending time with my garden. Reinforcing healthy boundaries. You know, that's another really great thing to do with this lunar cycle.


54:14
 Keeping commitments, being patient with slow progress, you know, whether it's you or other people. And Taurus also has to do with the throat and the voice. So maybe thinking about how do I want to use my voice? Am I using my voice? Am I using my voice in alignment with my values? Like those kinds of questions. I actually am kind of excited as we look further into the new moons for May and for June.


54:42
 I feel like this one is more like regulating your nervous system and managing your own fears and anxieties to a large extent, as well as, you know, finding some physical beauty. Yeah. But when we get into May, there's this really cool full moon that's where it's like the sun and the moon with Mercury and Gemini. And Mercury is at home in Gemini, you know, so it's all about like ideas and thoughts and messages and movement and communications and


55:10
 And so it's like our sun, our soul, is aligning with the moon, our body, and our mind, Mercury. So for people who are a little witchy, I think the May new moon offers some really great potential for putting new cycles, new trends, directing one's will. Mercury is like the ultimate magician wanting to manifest reality. But I do remind people that a new moon cycle, while we have a lunar cycle that's 28 days,


55:39
 In reality, most of the changes we make in our life aren't going to happen in 28 days. No. So there's also a larger set of lunar cycles called the lunar family. It's a three-year cycle. And I think that's often more realistic when we're thinking about big things we want to change in our lives. So when I think about my own intentions and manifesting, I tend to measure it more along that timeline. Yeah. So from the new moon in May, you would go 18 months ahead to like the full moon that's in 18 months. Oh, wow.


56:09
 the illumination of that. Um, and then the, the June new moon, this is really exciting is the sun and moon with Jupiter in cancer where Jupiter is exalted. Um, and so again, I think that's very like home and family and tradition and heart centered and caring, um, that kind of new moon, but also powerful for, for manifestation. Um, in terms of the overall astrology, like at the world level, um,


56:38
 I don't know, like, is talking a little bit about the political setting okay, or would you rather stay away from that? I mean, yeah, we're pretty. Okay. Niamh and I are fairly aligned in our... Well, I thought you were, but I also respect if you're, you know... So, on Inauguration Day, the Sun and Pluto were together in the sign of Aquarius. That's only happened once before in U.S. history. It didn't turn out very well, but I won't go there.


57:03
 But so Pluto is often considered like the underworld, like the corrupt power, the wealth that you don't see. And what we saw on Inauguration Day was like this solar figure, this leader, this president with all these billionaires who manage systems and technology and are kind of the underworld boards. Right. Right. So where we are right now at the end of April is we're now at the square of that where the sun is making a square to Pluto.


57:32
 And so I think we're seeing like a period of some readjustments of that relationship between the leader and the underworld. And I'm really curious to see what happens then when we get to Leo season, when the sun is now making an opposition to Pluto, which will happen in late July, because then there's a conflict, there's a confrontation. Oh, interesting.


57:57
 Yeah, I think it's really interesting for us as U.S. citizens where that was such, that transit was just featured in January. And now we're going to sort of watch it play out over just the year. But right now, the sun is at the square and Mars is at the opposition. So it's heating it up. So I think this weekend and next week are going to be pretty intense at the, like, U.S. political, potentially world stage. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.


58:27
 And then there's just a lot of change, a lot of change going on. Jupiter and Saturn make a square to each other in June. I think once we get past that, Jupiter will actually have more power to do good things again. Jupiter's been kind of debilitated for the last year. Where Jupiter wants to bring us hope and optimism, instead it's like it hasn't known where to turn. It's been challenged at every level. Once we get past June, we get a better Jupiter. And for those of us who have cardinal placements, like that's great, right? Jupiter helps to


58:56
 to make things to give you more faith more hope more ability to take action to take care of yourself um but it isn't an easy year and i think we'll see some more heating up like at the end of july first 10 days of august look like pretty gnarly astrology and then eclipse season in september and then it's like things back off a little bit you know as we get towards the holidays um


59:21
 But, you know, that doesn't mean there's not some times of goodness, some times of peace. There's definitely some, a couple of nice days in June, a couple of nice days in August. When Venus is going to be with Jupiter doing lovely things. Yeah. So it's like, it's not that every day is bad. I like a couple of nice days. But like big, big nice days. Big nice days. Yeah. So, yeah, you kind of have to.


59:44
 Like find those moments of beauty when you can and know that this is a year when it's like we want solid ground and solid ground isn't there. Yeah. The Taurus in me really hates it. Yeah, I bet. For all the people who have heavy pick signs, this is incredibly difficult energy. And it also means you've got Pluto, right? Who's either...


01:00:03
 with some of your planets or square some of your planets or opposite some of your planets, because Pluto is going to be an Aquarius until I think 2039, 2040. Oh, geez. Yeah. So it's a transition for sure. And it's early on into it. Wow. But this is a really hard week for fixed sign people. So I just, yeah, I'm holding you up. Yeah. Send us gifts. Yeah. That's our, we love those. Yeah. But the astrology reflects what's going on in our world, you know? Yeah. Um,


01:00:33
 it isn't, isn't, isn't easy. I send a monthly newsletter. And one of the things I put in the newsletter is every month, there's usually a couple of what I call happy moon days when, when the moon is like moving between Jupiter and Venus and it's in a supportive place. And so I try to highlight that for like the people that come to my workshops and stuff's like, okay, here's a happy moon day. Do these happy things, you know? Oh, I love that. Yeah. To kind of grab onto the goodness as it comes, but it's just not easy. And you know, yeah.


01:01:00
 But there's tremendous power at the personal level, right? Like, even though it's collectively yuck. At the personal level. I love collectively yuck. Yuck, right? There's still lots of good things happening, right? Yeah. You know, because your own placement, they really flavor your experience, not, you know, so...


01:01:23
 There's still pockets of opportunity. Like I said, people will still fall in love this year. People will still get married. People will still have babies. Like people will still have healing. Like, you know. Yeah. But I am, you know, collectively it looks rough. It looks rough economically. You know, it looks rough in terms of resources. It looks, you know, it's not fun to have things dissolving.


01:01:43
 Yeah, that's true. Tower, tower. Yeah, right. Such tower energy. But I don't know about you guys. I know you said you were going to pull a tarot card, but like my own personal tarot cards, I've actually been really supportive. Like they have not, they have been like, you're going to have what you need. Like it's been like lots of, like even today I pulled the six of discs, you know, which is like the success card with the moon and Taurus. Right. And so I've had really supportive like spirit guides and,


01:02:13
 And, like, ancestors, and it's like, I feel like there's a team that's working with me and that we're going through this process for something better. Yeah. I agree. How do you, like, yeah? You getting the same thing? Overwhelmingly, yes. On occasion, like, I pulled a couple just for myself this morning, and it was a little rough. But it was a lot of the same, like...


01:02:38
 unstable energy. Like don't try to do too many things at once. Um, which is always like focus on the things you can focus on, um, and try not to do a thousand different things because you can't impact change in a thousand different areas. Pick one or two. Yeah. So Jupiter and Gemini is really amped that up for all of us. And I think Uranus and Gemini will too of like, you have to be really careful about what you say yes to. Yeah.


01:03:02
 yeah i think no is becoming my favorite favorite word so i like it yeah um neva do you want to pull a card for us yeah sure this i know my i know my magpie deck gives you anxiety it gives me so much anxiety


01:03:23
 But I love it for you. It was the one I had nearest to me. So that's the one we're going to go with. Yeah. So I'm in a group where people post their cards that they have available to buy for magpie decks. And so this person posted she had over 40 decks. And I sent her a whole list. And she hasn't got back to me. So I hope she does soon.


01:03:51
 But, okay, I love this. Got the Ace of Cups. Ooh! Yay!


01:04:01
 so what would you call that background kind of um nebulous oh no it looks like scallops like scallops of shells yeah and it's kind of like a martini glass so you know in the feelings and creating the colors i do too yeah the purples and the really pretty the blues yeah


01:04:25
 Kind of like, I don't know if you can see my bedspread behind me. Yeah, it does look like that. It's like a purple-blue solar system on my bedspread. Yeah, I like that a lot. I like the Ace of Cups, you know? Like, the cups are just very comforting to me as a suit. In general. That is not surprising. 12th house cancer, right? Yeah. Here's me that's like, I want pentacles and wands.


01:04:54
 I've had to learn to like the cups. I like them now. I wouldn't have liked them my whole life. Yeah. I do a lot of writing and editing. And so where people often find the sores like anxiety swords or anxiety producing for me, that's like, Oh yeah, I have a lot of work to do today. Of course I'm getting that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know what this is. Yeah. Okay. Put the brain on and do the brain things. Yeah. I've been getting used. You're talking about daily pulls. I've been getting a lot of cups.


01:05:24
 a lot of queen of cups energy um oh my god yeah but also like my tarot card for the year is the hermit so is mine really yeah how do we not talk about that i don't know i don't know either okay anyway um anyway so yeah so you know my goal for the year is just to like hermit dive into dive into little neva i love that


01:05:55
 I'm in an interesting space where in 2022, I left my full-time job and I was a manager at a hospital. And so for three years now, I've been growing my astrology business and I still teach nursing graduate classes in the university online. And I've traveled a lot. Like I've literally traveled like, like all over the world. Like I went to the Galapagos. I went to South Africa. I went to England. I went to Canada. Like I've done a lot of traveling.


01:06:24
 And I made the decision that I'm going back to work. I took a leadership position in a local nursing school. So I start May 12th. So I'm kind of in this period of like, I want to soak up like the last of the days where my time is my own. Right. And really be outside and enjoy music and do this. And, you know, I'm still doing astrology for sure. Right. But given the economic situation, it just seemed to me and, and also just being a homeowner, like I had some crazy expenses.


01:06:54
 I felt like getting something steady is going to benefit me and also the people that I want to help more. Because when you're a solo business owner and, you know, like you feel like you're constantly hustling and maybe you want to do some things that contribute, but you're like, I got to make money. Right. Yeah. And so I feel like getting a better material foundation like underneath me will allow me to.


01:07:19
 have more to give um for now i don't know that i'll do it forever but um so yeah so that's kind of what's going on in my life which you know is an interesting cycle astrologically like to see how kind of like that's that's turned and played out but i was hit really hard because i have cardinal placements by what happened in 2020 right like yeah a major like shook my world


01:07:43
 kind of thing. And I think I needed a couple of years to just recover. Yeah. I think that that's a lot of people did. Yeah. So how old are each of you? I could have looked and did the math, but I didn't. I'm 40. So I'll be 41 in a couple of weeks. I will be 38 in a month and a half-ish. Okay. So you guys are both in the middle of, or starting kind of what we call the midlife transits in astrology. Are you familiar with those?


01:08:12
 I mean, no, not really. Yeah. I mean, I've heard of like midlife crisis. Is it okay if I talk about it for a couple minutes? Sure. Yeah. So you talked about your Saturn return earlier. Yeah. And so as an adult, there's several times in our life when we go through kind of like developmental cycles that correspond with planetary patterns. So one of those is around age 29 when Saturn comes back around to where it was when you're born. Yeah.


01:08:38
 So the second really big time comes kind of between the ages of 38 and 43. It can vary a little bit depending on exactly when you were born. But you have three to four big transits that you go through at this time. The first one I knew you were both coming into because you both have Pluto and Scorpio. And that is Pluto and Aquarius is going to make a square to your Pluto and Scorpio.


01:09:04
 And this probably goes along with how you're feeling about the world right now. Because, you know, Pluto kind of comes along and it literally destroys things that are not working. And so a lot of times around this Pluto square Pluto, you see relationships ending, jobs ending, you know, structures ending. You know, it's like, I'm a gardener. I think of it as pruning and throwing things in the compost. That's kind of what Pluto's doing. Then the second thing that happens is Neptune comes in and makes a square to Neptune.


01:09:34
 And that's often very confusing. It's like, okay, I know what isn't working. I know where my life's not going. I know what's falling apart, but I can't really see the future clearly.


01:09:44
 I get dreams of it. I get visions of it. I get inspired. I'm thinking that's probably where you are. Yeah. Oh, boy. Yeah. And so it's helpful to know that that passes. That that passes. Good to know. Because, wow, it's confusing and I hate it. It is. It is. It's very unclear. It's very confusing. It's like all you can really do is stay focused on what's the best thing to do today. Right. I don't know how next week's going to go. So you're probably right in the middle of that, Maria. And it's not you yet.


01:10:15
 Then the third thing that happens, and this is probably a couple years out from you, is Uranus makes an opposition to your Uranus. This is my favorite part of them. Now, I'm a person who I like Uranus. Uranus does good things for me. It's like, okay, I get excited again. I get inspired. I know. I suddenly have doors open. I suddenly have windows open. Like there's suddenly this like fresh awakening energy and now I'm on my path, right? Okay.


01:10:41
 But you have to be patient in those Neptune wandering year and a half, two years until you get to the Uranus like, okay, here's the new thing. Here's what you're excited about. And it's not an easy time. I mean, it's just not. Even in the best case scenarios, like it can be more extreme for some people than others for sure. Yeah. And then there's kind of another cycle that comes into play around age 50 when you have a Chiron return.


01:11:11
 Oh, boy. First Chiron birthday. For a lot of women, that goes along with like the menopausal transition and kind of becoming like into your wise elder, more your crone phase kind of. Yeah. And then, of course, you have a second Saturn return around age 58.


01:11:28
 And then right after that, you have, like, your fifth Jupiter return. So it's kind of fun. Near 60, you get a Saturn cycle and then immediately a Jupiter cycle. I feel like I'll be super dead by that. I hope not. By the way, so a little bit about that, about the cycles of life and the fact that you're both kind of in this midlife thing where you're going to be making changes and reassessing and deciding what should stay and what should go and –


01:11:50
 You know, wandering through the wilderness a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Being a decisive person, like, I have never had problems making decisions, picking a path, like, right? That Taurus energy tends to be very strong. And now I'm like...


01:12:06
 i don't fucking know i don't know um and it's like okay i just have to try to get through today what's the best thing to do for the next week what's the best thing to do for the next month like that's all i'm able to focus on whereas normally i'm such a big picture person and i can very clearly see like a delineated path and be like okay


01:12:32
 This is the work I have to do to get where I want to go. No problem. I'm happy to put in the work to get there. I'll plow the fields. I'll plant the seeds. I'll do the things. And now I'm like, where's the field? I don't even know. I think I have felt like that since I quit teaching.


01:12:49
 shit that was like three years ago now I feel like for the last three years I've just been like alright well I don't know where I'm headed but I can see as long as I can see the next step I don't know where I'm going and I'm just gonna kind of trust that the next step will appear and I'll figure it out from there and I don't know I mean I have a pretty damn good job right now I think you're doing great you're doing a great job


01:13:16
 Yeah, even though you're a little younger, your Neptune, Neva, is at seven degrees of Capricorn, where Maria's is at one. So it must have gotten further back in a retrograde. And so you actually are a little bit behind.


01:13:31
 Maria, you are right smack dab in the middle of your Neptune square right now. Oh, yeah. Because Neptune's at the first degree of Aries, so you're in the middle of it. Yours is probably coming in a year-ish. Yeah. Which, like, woo-hoo. All right. Now, here's what it's good for, though. So Neptune is great for spiritual work. So it can really amp up your sensitivity, your psychicness, your dreams, your visions, like ancestral work, like anything that's, like, otherworldly.


01:14:01
 Neptune's great for it's, it's a little bit, um, it's like a time though, when like, if you're a person who uses any substances, like they can work on you much more extremely than they did before. So you need to be super careful about any kind of like drugs or teas or, you know, things that impact your body or your mind. It can amp up your sensitivity big time. Yeah. Um, but it was wonderful for like a cult work.


01:14:27
 yeah that's good to know I do feel like I've deepened my own practice in this like uncertainty like I feel much more connected I and I don't know if that comes from a place of like trying to find meaning because I feel so lost or of like the I ground more I'm much more aware of where my energy is going I don't have like the same capacity I used to have so like recognizing where the energy is going but


01:14:56
 Um, I, and like you were talking about a lot of things ended in the last couple of years, um, relationships and friendships and things that were just draining my energy. And I was like, Oh yeah, I don't actually need to participate in these things. Um, so people let them go easily. Some of us like fight with them for a long time and it gets harder. Yeah, I know. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm not, I'm not very good at just like,


01:15:23
 I am now, but when I was 38 and 40, I was not good at just letting the universe take me. I was always like, no, we're going to do it my way. That didn't work so well for me. Yeah, this is not familiar at all. No. I'm much more like, okay, well, I can tell we're shifting directions now, so I'm going to shift too. Yeah, trying to ride the wave.


01:15:46
 Yes. Yes. Instead of fight the wave. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I think those cycles, like even if somebody doesn't know their birth chart, just kind of talking about those big picture cycles of life. And there's ones for children, too, which are really helpful for parents to know. Like, I think it's so funny that like around age two, kids have their first Mars return because that's when they do that. No, no. Right. Right.


01:16:10
 Um, like there's certain, you know, there's certain planetary phases that you can sort of see like, okay, well, this is why my child is going through this stage. Right. You know, this is the developmental task. Yeah. Yeah. And whatever happens at age 12, that turns them into horrible hormone monsters that.


01:16:26
 jupiter their first jupiter return oh boy one of the bad things about jupiter is jupiter can feel really entitled right like jupiter's like it's all about me right like i you know did you guys watch chaos on netflix no i really wanted to well i think that's like probably one of the more perfect depictions of like uh jupiter at its worst is like this role that um


01:16:50
 Oh, gosh, what's his name? The guy that plays Zeus. Is it Jeff Goldblum? Yes, Jeff Goldblum plays Zeus, a.k.a. Jupiter. And he's very, like, narcissistic and self-entitled. You know, it's just like that's sort of Jupiter at its worst. So you can sort of relate that to being a 12-year-old, right? Yeah, 100%. 100%. They have all this Jupiter energy, and they don't know what to do with it. Oh, yeah, it's awesome. It's so great. It's so great.


01:17:19
 It comes again at 24. Yeah. Well, that, I remember that for myself, but that'll be interesting to see. And then 36, 48, 60. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.


01:17:35
 Well, this was awesome. This is fantastic. Oh my, I feel like I learned so much, Denise. This was phenomenal. Thank you. I think being a teacher, you know how people will talk about like you were born with a gift and I think mine's really been teaching and it's like whatever format I'm teaching in, that's, you know, that's what I do.


01:17:55
 I totally get that. So Neva, what is bringing you joy this week? Not your sinuses. Oh, what is bringing me joy this week?


01:18:14
 Yeah, not my sinuses. You know what? I guess medicine is bringing me joy this week. Hey. Yeah, that's valid. That's valid as hell. I stayed home on Friday and I cleaned the house. And Avery was very, very, very appreciative of that. So I guess being able to do that for her brought me joy.


01:18:43
 And also, my stuff is picked up and organized and not just scattered about. She calls it my nests. Aww. Because, like, I'll drag things out and then I'll start playing with them. And then I just have, like, a nest. Oh my god, I love that.


01:19:08
 That's awesome. Wow. Wow. Denise, what is bringing you joy this week? I have a vegetable and herb garden this year, which I haven't done in a few years because I was traveling a lot. And so it's really giving me joy every morning going out. My tomatoes are blooming. I got little figs and little strawberries. And so that makes me happy. And in New Orleans, we have a big music festival every year called the Jazz and Heritage Music Fest. And it's


01:19:38
 two weekends in a row, like four-day weekends. And so this week, I'm going. I've never gone, like, I've only gone one day before. I've never, like, gone the whole festival. But I was like, before I start this new job, I'm going to go enjoy it. So I have eight days of tickets to this music festival. So cool. And so I'm really excited about it. You know, I won't go every day, all day, but there's a lot of artists I'm looking forward to, and the weather looks spectacular, knock on wood. Yay.


01:20:04
 I'm looking forward to just like being outside, being in the sunshine, looking at my garden, dancing to music, eating good food. You know, I plan to really soak up some Taurus energy. I was just going to say that's so Taurus energy. Yeah. Food, weather, ground to pleasures. That's my plan. Yeah. Unless something interferes. That's my joy. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. That's great. And you. Let's bring you. Oh.


01:20:30
 Well, that's a very good question. So this past week I've been on April break, which has been so nice. And I cleaned a bunch of things. Not all the things that I wanted to. But that actually made me super happy was to clear out some old stuff. And...


01:20:55
 have some um together family time we went for like a family i don't want to say spa day but we did pedicures and manicures everybody in the family went so um yeah including my husband and son and uh


01:21:14
 It was just nice to like watch them enjoy being a little pampered. And we've made, you know, a bunch of like food dishes that we had been meaning to cook and try that we didn't have time to do before. So just, yeah. And we've had a couple of gorgeous days. Like Connecticut is cold and gross.


01:21:32
 but we've had a couple really nice sunshiny days so spending time outside and you know has been really great all of those things have brought me joy so and then just trying to plow through to the end of the school year with my sanity intact so that'll try to hopefully this week of rest will carry me through that yeah yeah be kind to yourself you know Neptune does also make you need more rest


01:22:02
 Yeah. Yeah. I feel like I need way more sleep than I used to, but you know, age and perimenopause. So it's, it's square my moon right now. And so, yeah, I've, you know, have some similar kinds of things going on because of that. Just like, all right, everybody take naps. Yeah. Although Friday night I was in my pajamas at eight 30. I was like, so underrated.


01:22:28
 mm-hmm yeah my friend like a friend wanted me to go last night to their cd release party and i was like when does it start and he's like 10 o'clock i was like what at night are you crazy yeah i was like no there's this lovely group of uh


01:22:46
 queers in the town next to me and they owned a queer bookstore and they were like we're all going out on saturday and i read tarot there on occasion and they were like you should come with us i'm like you guys are 24 and going out at 11 o'clock at night like no offense but this old ass mom is in bed with a heating pad and a cup of tea and i am not moving


01:23:12
 like it's just not happening i've been like i've been watching uh 30 rock and there's an episode there's an episode where this like 20 year old coffee delivery boy um like this is liz limit to go out with him out with him and he's like i'll pick you up at 10 he goes she goes at night at night


01:23:34
 And so then they're out and she's like, wow, you wouldn't believe it's only 1 a.m. And he's like, okay, well, after this, we can go to this place. And they only serve drinks till 4. I mean, my life used to be like that, but it's been a while. Things changed pretty dramatically around 29, 2020. New Orleans used to be a really late night town. Like, in fact, during Jazz Fest, there's clubs that'll have shows. So Jazz Fest ends early. It ends like 7.30 at night.


01:24:01
 But then there'll be shows at, like, 9 o'clock, midnight, and 3 a.m. at different clubs. And so there's people who literally will be out all night, like, at live music shows all over the city. Yeah, which is, like, totally cool. And I could definitely get on board with. But I need to, like, prep for, like, a week if I'm going to do that. And then recover for a week. And then recover. Right. I need to have, like, built-in recovery days. Like, I can't just, like, spontaneously do that on a Sunday night and then go to work. But no, there's no way that's happening. Yeah.


01:24:30
 Yeah. I will not be in the late night crowd. Yeah. No. Not for me. Because my plants need me at 7 a.m. Right? You know, my plants need water. They need attention. They need love. Yeah.


01:24:40
 Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you for asking. This has been a great time. Yes, thank you. This has been wonderful. And thank you everyone for listening. Do the likes of the stars and check out the Patreon and please check out Denise and all of her stuff she's got going on and we'll have links. Yes.


01:25:07
 And I'm going to go take a nap. All right. Yeah. Have a great Sunday. All right. Bye, friends. Bye, friends.